Forgiveness
by Fringie Jester
Summary: *spoilers for seasons 5 & 6* What if Dany never sent Jorah away after he came back to her and she decided on a different punishment for him instead? And what if she decided to help him find a cure for his greyscale after he reveals it to her? In the end, can Jorah ever truly be forgiven by his Queen or will she continue to build a wall up between them?
1. Revealed Truths

**Forgiveness**

 **Chapter 1:** Revealed Truths

Jorah's heart began pounding away in his chest as if it were trying to escape it as he waited for his Queen's decision on what she would do with him now that he had returned to her when she told him not too. Would she do as she had threatened to do and behead him or would she only turn him away once more? The heat, the small crowd, the people surrounding him, none of that mattered and it was almost as though they weren't truly there. It was just him and his Queen standing there, their eyes locked. He could still see the pain, the mark that he had left on her, set there deeply within her but there was something more that was there that only those close to her could probably decipher and that was a certain longing. Had she missed him too?

That thought had given him only a brief moment of comfort. If she had missed him, then certainly she wouldn't behead him, would she? It would be a permanent act on her behalf that could never be undone once the sword was swung and he was gone from this earth and it wouldn't be something as easily erased as sending him away would be if she should ever want to see him again.

When Dany began to speak, he nearly froze in his place as he continued to watch her eyes and her lips for any clues that she might give away as to how she felt and what she might do with him before her mouth even spoke the words. Even his heart that had been so frantically beating away in his chest moments earlier seemed to stop beating so he could hear her every word.

"Get him out of my sight and throw him into one of the dark cells." She ordered her guards without any hint of emotion in her words.

"Khaleesi, please…" he managed to call out in her direction before two guards grabbed him by his arms and began to pull him away, but he was already too late to get his Queen's attention. The guards were uncaring to his pleas to let him go and they were already pulling him further and further away by her command. The dungeon could _almost_ be seen as being a worse punishment for him than that of being an exile, but in truth, this way he would be nearer to her and perhaps she would eventually change her mind in time, but was that only just wishful thinking? Would she even come to visit him there in his dark cell? Or would he be there to live there alone for the rest of his days while he slowly turned to stone from the grey scale that was slowly creeping up his arm as if it were a vine.

The guards kept pulling and tugging away at his arms and Jorah finally gave in and let them take him away without protest or struggle, after all he knew that it would be much easier on him if he only cooperated with them. The dungeons that they were taking him to were dark, reminding him of the tales of the Black Cells beneath the Red Keep that he had heard of many times before in his youth, although he had never seen them first hand. They were just tales to him, something to be feared and a place that you never wanted to find yourself locked away in. The guards threw him into one of the many cells within the dungeons with no great care, causing him to fall face first onto the floor and then Jorah heard the sound of the door slamming shut behind him before he even had a chance at standing.

Jorah pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and began to crawl around in the darkness looking for the back wall of his cell while hoping that his eyes would manage to adjust to the darkness that surrounded him sooner rather than later. His fingers felt the old straw that littered the floor as if it hadn't been replaced in ages and he could also hear the vague sound of what could have only been mice or rats somewhere off in a distant cell. The sound of the creatures scratching around echoed off of the stone walls, making them seem a little closer than they actually were and yet the thought of them being there at all still bothered him.

After several long moments of feeling around the floor, Jorah managed to find the cold stone wall and he positioned himself in a way that he could lean against it and tried to get as comfortable as he possibly could as he awaited for whatever might come next. Would he be there for a few hours? Days? Weeks? Or even months before Daenerys would come to a decision on what she should do with him? He couldn't believe that she would care so little about him that she would just leave him out there in the dungeon on his own for months without coming to see him for some reason or another.

* * *

Several hours had passed, or what Jorah could only assume to be hours without the light of day to help him keep track of the time, when Jorah's eyelids began to grow heavy with sleep and he allowed himself to rest and put his troubled thoughts away. Drifting in and out of sleep, Jorah would try to move around and get as comfortable as he could in what little straw that had been provided for him in the cell. He would lay with his eyes on the ceiling during his waking hours, but there was nothing there but darkness and the squeaking of rats there to keep him company.

Jorah was starting to grow hungry and thirsty and weak after a time of being in there, how long it was he could not say, and he yet he was growing so weak that it was becoming harder for him to move around.

"Jorah…" his Queen's voice called out for him from the doorway. Jorah gathered what little energy that he had to turn himself around and look up at her, but he quickly covered his eyes to shield them from the light coming from one of the torches that were surrounding her, presumably held by her guards. "Take him up to my chambers. I should like to speak with him alone."

Yet again, Jorah saw the guards rushing over to grab him and then pulled him up by his arms to force him onto his feet to make him walk up to her chambers. His legs gave way a time or two, but they pulled him back up to his feet again with ease and Jorah knew that his Queen must have been following along behind them, watching her once great knight fail to even walk on his own and for that he felt ashamed that she even had to see him like this.

Once they were up in her chambers, they set him down at the great table in the center of the room where they had often met during a council meeting and then left the two of them alone at her request.

"How long was I in there for?" he asked, but he didn't look at her. Whether it was from the shame of being carried away by the guards in front of her or from the pain that he felt just from looking at her, after what she had done to him or if it were both, he could not say.

"A little over a week." She replied rather unapologetically. "I told you that if I saw you here again that I would behead you and yet you came back to me… why?"

Jorah lifted his head a little but still he didn't meet her gaze. "I'm sworn to protect you, to kill for you and to die for you if need be, my Queen. I meant every word of it."

"If you truly meant it then why did you lie to me, Ser Jorah?"

It was a fair enough question and it was a rather tough one for him to answer at that. "I didn't think of it as being of any great importance at the time. I know now that I was wrong to keep that from you as long as I did… but I thought that I could leave all of it all behind me and not think of it any further."

"Did you not trust me with your secrets as I so easily trusted you with mine?" she asked, walking over to him and placed her hand underneath his chin to tilt his head upwards to force him to look up to her. "I trusted you with everything that I had in me and you couldn't return the favor to me?"

Jorah felt his eyes beginning to well up with tears at those words. "Daenerys, I have made many mistakes in my lifetime, but there isn't one that I will regret more than not telling you when I should have." A tear slid down his cheek and he could have sworn that he saw tears starting to build up in her own eyes as they continued to look at one another. "I never meant to hurt you."

"How can I believe you after everything that you have kept from me? How can I take you back if I cannot trust you?"

Jorah shook his head 'no' in response. "I don't know, Khaleesi." He replied as she let go of his chin and then backed away from him. "You have good reason not to trust me."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to do that to you? To just send you away after everything that you have done for me? You were my dearest friend…" Daenerys seemed to be fighting back the tears that were starting to stream down her cheeks and they only seemed to be growing heavier the more that she was able to get everything off of her chest that she must have been holding in ever since he had left her. "I missed you and I know that I shouldn't and that's the worst part of all of it."

"That you missed me?" he asked, standing up from the table, but quickly grabbed onto the side of it to steady himself and to keep him from falling.

"I—I realized, after I sent you away, that I needed you here by my side. I hated that I did." She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, giving in and allowing herself to cry now. "I shouldn't have become so attached… and I don't want to send you away again… but how can I keep you here? Please give me a reason to trust you again so I don't have to send you away." Her voice was pleading with him as she took a step closer to him and peered up into his blue eyes.

Jorah reached out with his good arm and gently began wiping her tears away with his thumb and to his surprise; she didn't pull away from him. "I came back to you, even after you told me that you meant to behead me if I stepped foot back into Meereen. It was foolish of me not to head your warning. But the truth of the matter is that I cannot live without you, Daenerys." He admitted to her, letting his hand fall back down to his side.

"Why?" she asked.

Jorah bit his lip, wanting more than anything to tell her the truth behind his own convictions now. "Because I love you. I will always love you." He muttered and looked into her eyes. "I have loved you for a long time now, Daenerys, even before Drogo died… and I'm not keeping anymore secrets from you… you deserved to know. As you deserve to know this too." Jorah loosened some of the bracelets on his arm and began rolling up his sleeves to reveal the greyscale to her. "You won't get it unless it touches you." He told her as Dany grew closer to him with a look of disbelief plainly written all over her face as she inspected the greyscale.

"How long does it take?"

"I don't know…"

"I won't let it take you from me." His Queen had stopped crying now and was looking up at him with a certain determination on her face. "Not after I have just gotten you back… we will find a cure."


	2. Time to Heal

**A/N:** I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read my story! I never really thought that this one would be read by very many, but I do appreciate every one of you 3 _Some_ of the plot points within this chapter come from the books (his reaction to a certain piece of news-info on what having greyscale is like) just a heads up there. The healing process for both of them will take some time, but hang tight. :3

 **Chapter 2:** Time to Heal

After their time that Dany and Jorah had spent together, Daenerys had decided to send Jorah away to spend the next few days locked away in his old chambers. He had food and water and a nice bed to sleep on and she had given him new clothes to wear and a bath along with a few books to read to pass time. All things considered it was better to spend time in this cell than it had been to spend time alone in the dark cells beneath the great pyramid of Meereen. He finally had some time just to rest his head for the first time, in a long time, knowing that his Queen was on a mission to see to it that she would find the cure to the affliction that was still growing up his arm.

The greyscale itself did not hurt and Jorah could only guess it was because he had lost all feeling where it started to grow. He would sometimes sit and touch the scales there on his forearm hoping that he would feel _something_ whether it be pain or pressure and felt nothing at all. Even a knife trailing across his skin wasn't painful enough to make him feel there again and it was almost as if it were another man's hand and arm growing where his should have been. It felt dead and lifeless and cool to the touch, like the scales that grew on a serpent.

He flexed his hand, watching his muscles move just beneath his skin and wondered how much longer he would be able to move his hand or if it would stiffen up and harden like a rock. _The Stone Men could still move and quite well,_ he reminded himself as he rolled down his sleeve and lay back down on his bed. He had considered cutting his arm off a time or two, but there were no guarantees that it would stop it from spreading. He had heard many tales of desperate men who would cut off their own arm or leg only to find out the very next day that it had sprung up on another appendage and then they would be without their arm and would still have to face the horrors that had awaited them.

Many men feared death; even the bravest of them, but most men would rather die than to catch such a horrific disease that made nearly everyone cower at the sight of it. He had thought about ending his life shortly after catching the disease himself, because he was one of those men, but he had thought better of it. If he had ended it right there and then he would never make it back to his Queen so he could explain everything to her. He needed to ask for her forgiveness before he perished from this earth and to be sure that she would be alright without him.

Jorah had planned on leaving afterwards, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay there as it would put her at risk of getting the disease herself and if he had somehow managed to give it to her, he would never be able to forgive himself for it. He had caused her enough damage already and the thought of being the source of more of her pain and anguish wounded him deeply.

* * *

"Jorah the Andal." An Unsullied opened the door to his chambers and Jorah immediately sat up on the side of his bed and curiously looked up at the man. "The Queen, Daenerys Targaryen would like to speak with you. Follow me."

Jorah's heart leapt in his chest and nodded as he stood up and followed the guard to Dany's room and Dany dismissed him and he did as he was bid and left the room.

"You look like you're doing better." She noted as she placed her hands together in front of her. "I hope that your old chambers were more to your liking than the dark cells beneath us."

"My chambers were fine, thank you, my Queen." He placed his hands behind his back and kept his eyes leveled on some random decorations on the wall on the other side of the room to keep himself from looking at her.

"The tournament that you wanted to fight in is in a few days down in the fighting pits and I would like for you to join me and my husband there, along with Tyrion. Would you be willing to come and watch it with us?"

"Your husband?" his eyes widened and met with her gaze now. His heart was starting to pound away in his chest at the thought of her being with another man and the worst part of it was, he knew that it was unreasonable to feel this way about her and yet he also knew that he couldn't control it or how he felt about her. Jorah was in love with her and he had told her as much just the other day. _He had told a married woman that he was in love with her._ Jorah was starting to feel sick at his stomach now as he felt himself being torn apart from the insides, but he couldn't show it, not to her. "He was the man that you were sitting next to on the stage?" he asked.

Daenerys nodded and came closer to him. "That doesn't seem to please you." Her voice was without any empathy when she spoke, but what she said next came as an even greater surprise to him. "It was a political marriage, Jorah. I don't love him. It was my duty as the Queen… I had to find some way to bring this city together and I wanted to show them that I was fully committed to bringing unity to their city by marrying one of their own."

Jorah nodded in understanding, though her words didn't seem to bring him any great comfort or to ease the pain that he was currently experiencing as she might have hoped.

Her features softened as she reached out to take his right hand out from behind his back and took it into her own and he felt himself nearly flinch, thinking for the briefest of moments that she might have accidentally taken his bad arm instead.

"You lock me away in the dark cells and then in my own chambers and now you're asking me to join you to watch the tournament in the fighting pits and you're also holding my hand… I-I don't understand…" he told her giving her a look that clearly expressed his confusion.

"I'm just as confused as you are." She admitted as she looked up at him with a weak smile and then laced her delicate fingers together with his old calloused ones. "I feel as though I am supposed to hate you, for all that you had done, but I can't find it within me to hate you. You were my dearest and most loyal and trusted friend before and you still are after. I still care a great deal about you my dear bear and I have never stopped caring if I were being completely honest with you. I thought about you a lot while you were away, still wishing that you were here by my side giving me good council during these more trying of times… I missed how we could talk and laugh together and share our secrets. You are my strength…"

"As you are mine." Dany's smiled brightened as he repeated her words to him. It was something that they had said to one another while they and many others were lost in the Red Waste so many years ago. Everything had seemed hopeless at the time, but they were able to rely on one another to make it through the vast deserts of red sand that surrounded them for many of miles to come, but he knew that they could make it through anything together.

"We have always made a good team." She responded.

"That we have." He nodded in agreement.

"And I still need you by my side… and that's why I had to have you locked away for as long as I did."

Jorah was now more confused than he had ever been before and his face must have clearly expressed it to her because she was quick to respond.

"I found it to be easier to be angry with you and do my duty as a Queen if I didn't have to look at you." She swallowed nervously and looked away from him as if she were deeply ashamed of herself for what she had been doing to him. "That sounds awfully petty of me, doesn't it?"

"You can't allow someone who betrayed you stand next to you in court as if nothing had ever happened."

Dany nodded at his statement and let go of his hand to cross her arms over her chest, still not looking up at him.

"What has changed?" he asked.

She bit her lip and fidgeted a little at his question. "It's hard knowing that you're so close and yet I still cannot speak with you as often as I would like. I would like to give you another trial now that I have had more time to reflect and think everything through more carefully. But I won't send you away again… you have my word on it. I only hope that it will be more than enough for the entire city, so that I can accept you back into my services. Will you accept my offer?"

"The entire trial will be just for show?" Jorah asked with a raise of his brow and to that his Queen gave him a nod and a gentle smile. "When will it be?"

"Tomorrow, which is the day before the tournament. I hope that you're still not thinking about entering it." Her smile brightened again. "It was sweet of you to even think about fighting for me, Ser Jorah, but I cannot allow you to gamble with your life like that."

"Of course not." He allowed himself to smile now. "But I will take part in another trial if you think that it will be for the best."

"Good."

"What is your husband's name?" he suddenly asked.

"Hizdahr zo Loraq."

"Is he good to you?" Jorah asked, feeling sadness starting to seep in once again.

"We are only wed out of duty, and I assure you that can handle things on my own."

Jorah nodded, knowing perfectly well that every word of it was true, and Dany edged a little closer him, standing on her toes to kiss Jorah's cheek. "You're always so protective of me, even now. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He told her and then took a step away from her. "I think that I would like to return to my chambers now. I'm starting to grow a little… _tired._ " It was a lie of course. Jorah was far from being tired but he needed some time alone now and away from her to let everything seep in and to process in hopes that everything would put itself together and start making some sense to him. And above all, he wanted to cry and to be able to let everything out, but he couldn't do that in front of his Queen.

Daenerys seemed to be confused by his sudden request to leave the room, but without question, she summoned the Unsullied guard who had brought him up to her chambers to come in and take him back down to his own chambers where he sunk down onto the floor and finally allowed himself to let his tears flow freely down his cheeks. His protectiveness of her, this time, was due to his own selfishness. He knew that he could never truly be with his Queen in the manner in which he had always wanted to be and yet it still hurt him to see her in the presence of another man and to be wed to another. He knew that the day would eventually come, but he could have never imagined the immense pain that he would feel when it actually happened. Tyrion Lannister had once called him a _fool in love_ and he was starting to see the truth in his statement.


	3. The Trial

**Chapter 3:** The Trial

The trial wasn't real, Jorah knew that it wasn't, and yet there was still a faint feeling of butterflies still fluttering around nervously in the pit of his stomach as he stood at the foot of the steps that led up to his Queen's throne. His eyes were trained on the ground in front of him, more preoccupied with looking at his boots than into her eyes. Jorah _wanted_ to be standing up there in _his_ place by her side, but the likelihood of him ever getting back there was beginning to look rather slim at best. To be judged by his Queen, who was also the woman that he loved, was a cruel thing and he knew that he would have to brace himself for the harsh words that she would have to say to him in front of the others to make it seem as real as it possibly could be.

"Ser Jorah." His Queen spoke and yet he couldn't bring himself to move or to look up at her, not just yet, in fear that the pain that he was still experiencing would worsen. "I exiled you and yet you came back to me, despite the threat that I had made on your life. Most men would have fled from the city and wouldn't even dare to look back out of fear for their lives. Tyrion Lannister has made it known to me the lengths that you have gone through to make it back to Meereen and I must admit that it is admirable. But I and the others in the court would like to hear these words from your own two lips."

Daenerys went silent for a moment as Jorah finally allowed his gaze to meet her own at the top of the steps. The room seemed to open up and become larger and more intimidating as he took everything in from his position, the position of a man that was there to beg for mercy, and he briefly wondered if everyone that ever visited her there in the pyramid must feel this way or if his case was a special one. For Jorah, this was a personal experience. He knew her better than anyone and he wondered if this made everything worse for him or if the pyramid was in fact designed in such a way to intimidate the strongest of me. "When you accepted me into your service, I made a vow to kill for you and to die for you if need be, my Queen. I intended to keep those vows to you."

"You also made a vow to obey me, did you not?"

"Aye, I did."

"And yet you came back even though I commanded you not to?"

Jorah didn't answer the question posed to him, not directly at least, because he didn't know how answer it other than to give her a slow nod in response to her question instead.

"And what do you have to say for yourself?" she asked in a calm tone.

"I am as flawed of a man as they come, I assure you, and I have made many mistakes, my Queen… many of which I am not proud of. But my biggest regret is not telling you what I had done sooner and that you had to find out by other mean..."

The exchange within the court kept going with Dany asking him some of the same questions that were similar to the ones that she had asked of him the night that she had brought him up from the dungeons beneath the great pyramid and for that he was thankful. The rest of the court could hear what he had to say now and all of them were listening to his every word. All of them knew him and his past and _everything_ that he and the Queen had been through together and he only hoped that they would be as sympathetic towards him as Daenerys had been. Or had he expected too much? Had he deserved all of their anger and their rage for what he had done? In truth, he held enough anger for each of them towards himself for what had happened.

"If I decide to accept you back into my service, what is it that you ask from me?" she suddenly asked.

"I only wish to serve you in some way or another… in the manner of which I will serve you, it matters very little."

Daenerys went silent for only a moment, but then gave him a small nod and a smile before standing up from her throne and taking a few steps towards the edge of the landing that it was perched upon, causing her Unsullied guards to stand at the ready in case he would bring any harm to their Queen. Dany motioned for them to stand down and then her attention was drawn back down to his thin frame.

"Come here, my dear bear." Her voice was just as calm as it had ever been as she summoned him to come up the steps to meet her at the top. He hadn't been expecting her to call him that, not in front of everyone in the court at least. Nervously, Jorah climbed a few steps and looked up at her before climbing a few more. The steps felt as though they took an eternity to climb up and to reach her, but when he finally reached the top step, she reached out and wrapped both of her arms around his shoulders. "I missed you…" she told him before letting him go and taking a step back to look up at him. "Never leave my side again…" she whispered, only for him to hear and yet he doubted that he was the only one to have heard it. The room was in dead silence and all noises, even the faintest of them, had been able to echo off of all the stone walls, causing them to become louder than anyone had ever intended for them to be. Dany clutched at the sleeve of his shirt as she stood there looking up into his eyes. Eyes that were mixed with that same sadness and longing that had been present when she first laid eyes on him again out in the arena.

"You can come back to serve under me under the condition that you will never _lie_ to me again and you will never _keep_ anything from me again. I want you to tell me if you so much as get a tiny splinter beneath one of your fingernails… do you understand me?" she asked, to which Jorah only nodded again. "Good. If you ever dare to lie to me again, Jorah the Andal, you will wish that you hadn't. I won't go so easy on you the next time."

Jorah felt himself involuntarily swallow as he nervously watched her move to sit back down on her throne. "You are dismissed, for now, but after the tournament I wish to meet with you privately to discuss the manner of your return and how you will best come to serve me… you're free to come and go as you wish without a guard and you're no longer confined to your room."

"Thank you, my Queen." He said with a bow of his head and he hesitantly turned to walk back down the steps and to leave the room.

* * *

After court, Jorah left to go back to his room to sit at his desk as he winded down for the tournament the next day with a book there before him on the table. He had been given the freedom roam the great pyramid now and yet he still felt drawn to himself in his room as if it were some kind of protective shell from the outside world. He felt safest there with no one to run into or to talk to, knowing that everyone there was still wary of his presence there and he didn't feel the need to explain himself to anyone any further than he already had. He didn't want to hear any of their lies or to see their faces that would easily give them away.

A sudden knock at the door caused him to spring up from his seat, but before he could even make it over to the door to open it, Dany was already stepping inside of his room.

"Daenerys?" his voice was clearly full of surprise to see the young Queen coming into his room. It was something that she had never done before and he hadn't been expecting her to do it now that he was back. "Thank you-for the trial today. I appreciated the way that you handled all of it."

"Were you expecting something different?" she asked, clasping her hands together in front of her as she strode across the room to stand in front of him.

"No, I suppose not. But you didn't have to do what you did for me either."

"I know that I didn't have too… but I think that you earned a fair trial, don't you?" she asked with a genuine smile as she reached out to carefully take hold of his good hand that was free from any grey scale. "You have always been there for me and I think that a second chance is the _least_ that I could do for you." The butterflies were back in his stomach now and they were becoming more and more relentless as he fought to keep them under control. Jorah's legs were starting to become wobbly and his heart was racing just from her closeness to his body and was beginning to wonder if she felt the same way that he did.

His Queen was just inches away from him, holding his hand, it would be so easy for him to just lean over and meet her lips in a kiss if he had wanted to. He so desperately wanted to press his lips against her own, to taste her, to pull her close and to hold her, but would she even allow him to? Would she want him to kiss her or would she hate him for doing it? Did he even really want to risk losing her trust again so soon just to find out? As his mind began to race with those questions, to his surprise, he didn't have to fight with his thoughts for much longer because she reached up with her free hand and placed it on the back of his head to pull him down into a kiss. Yet again he was hesitant at first to react to her touch, but he soon gave in and began to return her kiss against his better judgement.

Daenerys was a married woman now and in the back of his mind he knew that what they were doing was wrong and if they were caught then it would mean trouble for her rule there in Meereen, but how could he possibly resist the temptation of something that he had longed for, for so very long? After another moment, Daenerys parted her lips to allow him to deepen their kiss, if he would be so daring, and he allowed his tongue to slip inside of her mouth to begin to explore the inside. Her mouth was sweet and tasted of red wine and it only made him all the more eager to explore every last inch of her. Jorah let go of her hand and slid his arm around her waist to pull her closer to himself and he felt her fingers starting to go through his thinning hair as he held her close. How long their kiss lasted, Jorah could not say, but he was breathless by the time that she pulled away from him to rest her forehead against his own and began to gently caress his face as she looked up into his eyes with a smile.

"I love you." He muttered to her once again. "But are you certain that you want to be doing this?"

"Jorah…" she sighed as she pressed her lips against his once again. "I told you that I don't love Hizdahr, it is only a political marriage-"

"That may be so, but I don't want to cause any more trouble for you than I have already." He responded as he felt her fingers continuously moving through his hair. "If anyone in Meereen were to find out…"

Biting her lip, Dany brought her arms to rest them on his chest, just to allow him to hold her while they were standing there together. "I know my sweet bear… but what would you have me do?"

Jorah knew what the right thing was, he _knew_ that he should tell her to go and to leave him there alone inside of his chambers to spare herself some trouble later on but he couldn't force those words to leave his mouth. "I-I can't… Daenerys. Because I cannot deny that I have wanted to be with you ever since I first saw you in Pentos… and I can't bring myself to say to you what I think the right thing to do is…" he shook his head. "I think that we both know…"

"No, Jorah. I will not allow politics or this cruel disease take you from me. I promise you that we will find a way…"


	4. Inner Turmoil

A/N: Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the very long wait, but things got a little hectic here, but they're starting to get a little better and I'm trying to get back into the groove of things. So I am hopeful that you won't have to wait nearly as long for the next chapter.

 **Chapter 4:** Inner Turmoil

Jorah had spent the night alone after everything that had happened between him and his Queen and part of him couldn't help but wonder, as he laid there in his bed, if it had all just been a dream that he had imagined? Would he wake up to find that everything had gone back to normal as if nothing had happened at all? Jorah could still feel her body up against his own, the soft touch of her lips as they met his in a kiss, the taste of wine still lingering there in her mouth… he couldn't have just imagined all of that could he? Part of him wanted to push her away, to keep her from getting too attached to him if something should happen to him because of the greyscale, his time with her would already be short, he knew that deep down, but the grey scale would dwindle their time down even further than it already was.

His mind had been racing throughout the night, trying to figure out what he should or could do. Dany had already told him that she had some scouts out looking for anyone that might know of a cure, but just sitting still and doing nothing made him feel restless and unable to coup with everything else that was going on around him. There was too much to think about, too much to do, and too little time and was causing him to grow even wearier.

After the restless night in bed, Jorah awoke to one of Dany's servants awakening him with his breakfast and she reminded him that he needed to be down at the fighting pits after he had finished. He thanked her for the food that she had brought to him and she left the room, leaving him once again with his thoughts of Dany and how he might react to her once he saw her again, but with her husband this time. It was a thought that troubled him deeply. Where would he sit? Would he be by her side? Or would he be standing guard beside of Daario again? Had anything truly changed at all?

Shoving his plate aside, Jorah ran his fingers through his hair and stood up to leave for the Fighting Pits, unable to eat more than a few bites of bread from his plate because he couldn't stomach any more than that. When he arrived, he quickly found the small stage that was perched on one side of the arena where Dany was sitting next to her husband, dressed in a white gown and Daario pointed towards the back corner, signaling to him where he was to stand guard while the tournament was taking place out there in front of them. He understood the importance of having as many guards around as they possibly could in order to protect her from anyone that might want to do her any harm, which there were quite a few, there in the city of Meereen. The Sons of the Harpy had become a relentless force that had risen up inside of the great city, striking fear into everyone that lived there.

The thing that Jorah found to be the scariest about the Sons of the Harpy was that they were an enemy that couldn't be seen. The men within the group could have been anybody in the city, you could run into them in the streets and you would never know it, because they wore their masks to cover their faces like a thief in the night. It was an almost cowardly act, Jorah thought, to not show their faces to their enemies, but even he had to admit that the masks that they chose to wear struck fear even into him. They had the impossible task of trying to find a need in a haystack, as that old saying went. So he had to stand guard and watch for anything that might seem suspicious.

Jorah kept looking around the arena, starting to feel weak and tired in the heat after spending the past few days with nerves on edge, hardly any sleep, and little food, but he _**mainly**_ attempted to avert his eyes away from Dany and her husband. She had told him many times now that the two had only wed as a political gesture in order to bring some form of peace to the city, but that hadn't made it hurt any less to see them together. He knew that Hizdahr would sleep in her bed and lay with her in order to create a legitimate heir as she was the Queen and if their child didn't look anything like Hizdahr, then there would be more scandals for Dany to deal with and even more uprisings within the city and he didn't want for her to have to deal with that. She had to focus on her duty as a Queen and that sometimes meant sacrificing things that she wanted in order to do what would be the best for her people and that meant keeping the peace.

Dany would cast a worried look back at him every once in a while as the fighting progressed there in front of her, knowing that he was starting to look very sickly standing there, but he ignored her and kept watch as if nothing had changed between them… just like she would have wanted anyways. After a moment, Dany ordered for one of the guards to bring a chair for him to sit in, and stubbornly, he refused the offer at first but after Dany insisted and gave him a glare as a mother would to an unruly child, he gave in and sat down, now unable to see the arena as well as he would have liked.

"You're not looking so good, old man." Daario commented, hovering over top of him as Jorah leaned back in his seat. It took all of his self-control not to jump up and punch the man in the face. Jorah wasn't in the mood to deal with his lip that day.

"I'm tired." He replied, keeping his gaze straight forward. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but our Queen wanted me here… so I came."

"I can take over from here, if you would like to go back up to your room."

"I'll be fine." He simply responded, even though the offer had been more than tempting. He needed the sleep and he wanted to get away from Hizdahr too. "This shouldn't last too much longer anyways." He waved it off as he leaned his head back against the post for a moment and closed his eyes for a moment, taking in the sounds of the crowed as the watched the fight with anticipation of what might happen next. There were cheers and boos and the sound of weapons clinking together somewhere down below, right before the sound of screams as one of the men died. The sounds all reminded him of war somehow, except they had made a game out of it and was much more brutal than any tourney that he had ever been too.

A sudden ruffling of a tunic caught his attention from behind and he turned just in time to see a glint of gold and he was quick to stand and pull out his sword and stab the man with it without even thinking about it. The sudden exhilaration quickly taking its toll on his body and he sunk down to one knee in an attempt to catch his breath. Daario was already on guard and the unsullied were raising up their shields and spears, gathering around Dany and her guests in attempt to protect her.

Jorah pushed himself back onto his feet and tightened the grip around the hilt of his sword, now being able to see why the Unsullied were all suddenly on guard. The Sons of the Harpy were everywhere within the arena and there must have been hundreds of them. The sunlight glinted off of each of their masks, seemingly arising out of nowhere and all of the rest were trying to make a panicked break towards the exits, but most of them were too late. Either the doors were starting to close on them or they had been cut down by one of the masked men wielding spears or knives or whatever else that they might have had at their disposal.

Screams of fear and of panic and the smell of blood was starting to fill the arena, causing Jorah to spring into action by a sudden rush of adrenaline. He went to Dany's side and took her by the arm to get her to look at him.

"We need to get out of here." He said in as calm of a voice as he could manage under the certain circumstances. "They're starting to close all of the doors… if we stay here for much longer, we won't make it out."

She nodded and he hopped down off of the stage, steadying himself against the stage for a moment before turning to help her down from the platform and Daario was quick to follow, helping Tyrion down and one of the Unsullied was helping Missandei off of the stage. Everything was happening so quickly now and they didn't have time to stop. Dany must have caught a glimpse of Hizdahr taking a spear from behind as he tried to escape because she momentarily froze and Jorah had to grab her by the arm and pull her away before she became their next victim. He held onto her as they sprinted towards the only open door, keeping her close in order to protect her.

When they finally made it to the tunnel that led to the outside, Jorah felt a tiny glint of hope that they were almost out of the trap and that they would make it to safety, but that glint of hope it was quickly extinguished as that door started to shut in front of them. He let go of Dany in an attempt to get there faster, but it was of no use. Angrily punching the door, Jorah turned to look back at the others, unsure of what they should do next. They were trapped now and there was no way out. There were so few of them to fight back against the dozens of enemies within.

Daario looked at him for a moment and Jorah automatically knew what he was thinking without having to say a single word. It was a long shot at best, but they would have to fight back against them as it would be better to go down fighting than it would be just to give up and hand themselves over to them to be slaughtered like animals. He would give his life for his Queen and that meant to protect her at all costs, no matter how hopeless the situation may seem. Jorah gave him a nod and took Dany by the arm again and all of the others gathered around them as they made their way back out into the chaos that was still unfolding on the inside. The Unsullied fought off a few men as they made their way towards the center of the arena, the safest place to assure that they wouldn't be cornered, which was the deadliest of all places that you could be during any kind of battle.

The Harpy were quick to surround them, pointing their spears and knives at them as they lunged forward to fight with one of their own and Jorah left Dany in the center to fight with the Unsullied. He still felt weak, but he had to fight them… he had to fight them for HER, he kept reminding himself over and over again in his head as if it were some kind of mantra that would give him strength to keep going. He had to keep her safe, he wanted to keep her safe, and he wanted to keep her alive. Damn the consequences. He would fight until his last breath. _I vow to serve you, to obey you, to die for you if need be._

Jorah was knocked down a few times, but an Unsullied quickly covered him as he pushed himself back onto his feet, sword in hand. He had been cut by some kind of blade on his arm and blood was flowing down it, adding onto his already weakened state, and one had managed to knick a place on his cheek, but he kept going until the sound of wings started to beat the sky and all eyes were cast upwards to see where the 'disturbance' was coming from, even the Harpy's seemed momentarily distracted by the great beast as it swooped down out of the sky and landed in the arena. It was Drogon and he wasted no time in opening his mouth and releasing fire onto nearly everyone and everything in sight. Jorah involuntarily stood and took a few steps backwards as the Harpy's efforts became more concentrated on dragon that was lighting all of them on fire. Jorah found himself unable to move as he watched the beast in awe, it was a sight to beheld and there was nothing like it in this world. Dany began walking towards the creature and everything within him was telling him to make her stop, but he was unable to move, so he just stood there and watched as she grew closer and Drogon turned his attention on her and roared at her.

There was nothing that he could do to help her now, if the Dragon was just as unruly and as untamed as he remembered he was, but to his surprise, Drogon allowed her to reach up and pet him and then she crawled up on his back and with a few swift beats of the great beast's wings, they were off into the sky, leaving them to finish off what was left of the Harpys on their own, which wasn't much at that point. Dany was safe for now, but he had also noticed that Drogon had been injured in their skirmish and he knew that Dany _**had**_ to get both of them to safety. _She has to protect her children._ He thought _. She couldn't afford to lose any of them._


	5. A Second Miracle

**A/N:** Guys, before you read this chapter, I didn't want to put a lot of dialogue into this chapter since it is basically a retelling of the some stuff that happened in the show, but I needed to write it in order to further the story itself. There is lots of inner dialogue for Jorah though! And after this chapter it should be taking a newer route than the show did, so hopefully you'll be getting that chapter sooner than this one. Sorry for the wait!

 **Chapter 5:** A Second Miracle

After having bickered back and forth for hours as they waited for their Queen to return to them, trying to figure out what to do, Jorah and Daario had decided on leaving the palace in search of their Queen on their own accord. The Dragon had been injured by the spears thrown at it from the Harpys and Jorah was beginning to become doubtful that the beast would be able to bring the two of them safely back to Meereen, which meant that they needed to act before something happened to her if it hadn't already.

Setting out on horseback, Jorah's mind kept drifting back the scene that had unfolded all around them in the Fighting Pits. Daenerys had already been apprehensive about taking part in something that had seemed awfully barbaric in her mind, but none of them had expected for it to turn out the way that it had. He also thought of Dany's husband and how he had been killed in the commotion and it bothered him that part of him held some sort of sick satisfaction that he would no longer be standing between the two of them even though Jorah knew that he was not fit to be the Queen's husband himself. Someone new, someone different, would always be standing between them and he hated it.

She had kissed him, though, and that had to count for something, didn't it? No, because it wasn't her husband that had stood between them to start with, it was the politics of Westeros. Politics and Alliances stood between the two of them and they always would and it was the only thing that he was sure of in this world at the moment. He was not, and never would be, fit for Daenerys. She needed an alliance with many connections back in Westeros if she truly wanted to be accepted back into Westeros after everything that her father, the Mad King, had done and it wouldn't be him, no matter what she had told him the night before. Jorah thought of their kiss for a moment and the way that her body had been pressed up against his own and wondered if he would have the strength to do what was right for her? Or would he mess everything up just as he always had in the past? Or should he just let go and let her decide what she felt was best for herself? Jorah knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself and yet he always felt the need to protect her.

Jorah had been ripped away from his own thoughts many of times by Daario, while Jorah did his best to ignore him while he offered comments to him here and in hopes that it would be enough to pacify him. Jorah only wished that he had wool that he could stuff into his ears just to keep from hearing him brag about how he had slept with Daenerys, or about how old he was, just to suggest that he should back off of their Queen and let him have her. Jorah didn't _need_ or _want_ to hear any of this, or to be drug down to the other man's level, and it's not like he needed to be reminded about all of this anyways. Daario was crude and vile and it angered Jorah to hear this man, who was supposed to be her faithful servant, talk about her in the manner that he had. If Daario had been any other man, Jorah would have stuck him with his sword and left him lying long ago.

It was going to be a long ride to say the least.

After some time, they had found something that had looked… _off._ He had seen this many of times before this. Hoof prints of thousands and thousands of horses, belonging to that of a Dothraki horde. And it wasn't the hoof prints that seemed off, it was the way that they encircled something, leaving a patch of untouched grass there in the middle of upturned earth. Someone had been standing there and deep down he knew that it had been Daenerys.

Bringing his horse to a halt, Jorah hopped off of his horse and walked over to the patch of grass and his eyes began searching for any sort of clues that could tip him off as to who had been standing there in the middle as the horde came sweeping through the area, surrounding _her_. And all of the sudden, a glint of white caught his eye and he stooped over to pick the object up. It was a ring and Jorah knew, without a doubt, that it was hers.

"She was here." Jorah said out loud, more to himself than to Daario, as he grasped his Queen's ring in his hand and stood up to return back to his horse. "And I know where they will be taking her. Vaes Dothrak. I have been there once before…"

Jorah's stomach once again began tying itself in knots as he thought of his Queen being in the clutches of the Dothraki horselords once again. Would they take her as a slave? Or would Dany be able to convince all of them that she was a Khaleesi once before and that her Khal had died? It was the truth, but would they believe her and what would they do to her now if they had? Would there be some kind of punishment to her for avoiding being taken there when Drogo died? There were so many questions left to be answered and there was no time to waste. They needed to get to her before anything happened to her. _He_ needed to get to her…

The two of them hastily made their way towards the north where Vaes Dothrak lay in the middle of the grassy desert. Their focus was now lying more on getting to the sacred city than it had talking amongst themselves, which had suited Jorah just fine. And after a while, they had to hop off of their horses and leave them a ways back in order to keep from drawing attention to the two of them as they began their search for the best vantage point and after some searching, they finally decided on a rocky mountain side that would give them the best view to scope out what could be considered a city. It was still lively during the middle of the day and Jorah was smart enough to know that it would be stupid of them to just come traipsing in there and snatching up one of their prisoners without any kind of back up, and so they decided to wait and watch while Daario continued making jabs at him.

Jorah was already profoundly tired from the lack of sleep, stress, and from all of the injuries that he had sustained while fighting back the Sons of the Harpy in the fighting pits and then the worst of all, the greyscale on his arm wasn't doing him any favors either. He wanted to yell at Daario and to tell him that he was the one that needed to back off, since Dany was with him now and he would treat her with all of the respect in the world and more. Dany deserved better than a man who saw her body as some kind of toy to do with it as he will. She deserved to be treasured for her great man beauties and treated with all of the respect that she deserved too, not only as a Queen, but as a woman. And yet, Jorah continued to hold his tongue the best that he could, knowing that it wouldn't be wise for the two of them to get into a fight before they rescued their Queen because they needed one another, as bad as Jorah hated to admit to it.

The next part of their mission felt almost surreal to him as they hid their swords away into the mountain side and crept into the city while trying to pose as merchants. It was a long shot at best, since they didn't actually have anything with them to sale, and with Daario still wearing his armor, it was only a matter of time until they ran into the wrong horselord and they would have every living person within the city surrounding them. When they were nearing the temple, and just when Jorah started thinking that they would make it, it happened. Two of the horselords stopped to talk to him, and Jorah fumbled to come up with an excuse as to what to say to them, momentarily cursing himself for not coming up with a better excuse before they waltzed into the city. One took off to fetch some others and Daario took off after him while the other stood watching Jorah, almost as if he were daring him to try something.

Jorah lunged at him and landed a blow, but it almost felt as though he were hitting a bolder and before he knew it, the other had him on the ground and despite his best attempts at defending himself and fighting back, even stooping so low as to throw sand at him (which ultimately failed), the other eventually had his fingers grasping around his neck and Jorah could taste the blood in his mouth and just as his vision was about to go dark, there was Daario standing there with a knife, blood trickling down the blade. He had never been so glad to see the brazened dark haired man before, until now.

The whole ordeal was wrapped up by Daario who quickly, and without any thought, used a rock to crush the other man's skull in a faulty attempt to cover of the fact that he had been killed by a knife. It was an attempt to make it look as though he had just gotten into a fight with another one of the Dothraki horselords and lost, so that none of the rest would come looking for the two strange knights who were wandering about their city. After all, it would be easy to find them since they stuck out amongst all of the others who were wearing horse leather vests.

After wandering around the city for a while longer, looking for a safe way to get into the temple, they spotted Daenerys walking around the outside with one of the other Dothraki women and when her two knights approached her, while taking her companion as a hostage (and earning a few angry glares from their Queen in the process), she was quick to inform them that she had a plan to which Jorah reluctantly agreed to. Jorah let the Dothraki woman go and Dany stepped forward and placed a hand on his face and then stood on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek, and his mind suddenly drifted back to the first time that she had suggested that she wanted to step through the flames at her husband's funeral while he stood there and watched her feeling helpless. His stomach had tied itself in knots that night as he watched her step through the fire and her dress caught lit aflame, knowing that she would be next and when the fire died down, there she was. Why should he have any doubt that this time would be any different than the last?

And so he let her, not saying another word about it because he both trusted and believed in her, even if he worried that something else could go wrong, he knew that his Queen was always full of surprises.

"Alright then. I will trust you." He had told her with a bow of his head, before he let her and her companion go along on their way, leaving both Jorah and Daario to find a place to wait and watch the temple for the miracle that was about to take place right before their very eyes and what a miracle it was to behold.

They waited for what must have been hours through the long hours of the night before anything happened. It was not a small fire like the last one, but the whole temple had gone up in flames and there were screams of men from the inside as they tried to beat their way out of the building. There was still no signs of Dany coming out of the building though, and Jorah was on pins and needles as his eyes stayed glued to the scene unfolding before them. All of the Dothraki in the city came flooding into the area, watching as their temple burned to the ground, scrambling to find a way to either put the fire out or trying to find a way to get inside to get their Khals out of the temple. Jorah would have been right there with them, trying to get his Queen out of the burning temple if he hadn't seen her unharmed by the flames the very first time this had happened. He knew that she would be alright, deep down, but he still couldn't help but to be worried about the woman that he loved being in there with seemingly no way out.

And then there she was, standing in the doorway, looking out at the great sea of Dothraki that had surrounded the temple, seemingly yet again untouched by the flames that were engulfing the temple around her and all of the Dothraki in the city looked upon her as if she were some kind of god and each of them bowed down to the earth beneath their feet as a show of respect—as did Jorah and Daario who walked nearer to the temple first. Jorah kept his head bowed until he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up to see her standing there with a smile on her face. "Thank you." She told him and offered him a hand as a signal for him to bring himself to stand on his own two feet. "I didn't get to say thank you earlier, for saving me." She brought her hand up to begin running her fingers through his hair. "My brave bear… you look so— _tired…_ I promise you, you will get all of the rest that you need when we return to Meereen and you _will_ be cured." She stood on her toes yet again, but this time Daenerys didn't place a kiss on his cheek, she placed a kiss on his lips, kissing him deeply for a long moment, before she pulled away from him. Jorah knew that there was a lot of work to do before heading back to their own city and they needed to head back in great haste.

Jorah glanced back at Daario just to see the expression on his face as he fought back the urge to smile at him. The man looked flustered and confused by what he just saw, and perhaps a bit hurt, but he just looked away, not saying a word, as Jorah followed his Queen to get ready for their trip back to Meereen.


End file.
